Why is UN recognition the metric here and not, like, idk the fact that Taiwan is a liberal democracy with the rule of law and freedom of speech and not a hypercapitalist dictatorship that disappears dissidents?
Neither are the real metric here. Taiwan is a US ally, China (mainland) is not, this is a US board. The reasoning goes backwards from that point.[1]
You have to be on the level of Israel’s aggression to lose the “liberal democracy” cover that most US allies get (or similar great titles).
[1] Enough to start a subthread with a very confident and polemic phrasing anyway. There are plenty who disagree with the OP here. I’m not saying that this place is an echo chamber on this point at all.